Chapter 28

Things as ever settled down after the excitement of the Coalition's failure to succeed in an attack on us followed by our very successful counter-attacks. The Coalition withdrew to its heartlands and began what amounted to its own inquisition which further exacerbated its problems, with defections being rife, until eventually only a hard core of extremists remained, a very dangerous hard core to be sure.

The Nephilim/Æsir war carried on apace, though the Æsir were pushing them back on all fronts. Again though, whilst a number of exploratory expeditions had been launched into the Nephilim part of the Outer Realms, many did not return. It seemed that it was an extremely dangerous place to go as Jerhz had warned us and whilst we did not think the Nephilim had captured any of our spies, the land itself was extremely hostile and inimical to the unwary or ignorant. The rebel Nephilim had promised us aid when they had settled their new world, but at the moment only Jerhz was confident enough to return to New Azurana and he was more concerned with bringing the rebels out than assisting our spies and drawing attention to his activities.

Both Róisín and I were interviewed by the Council on our encounter with the Lich. We were commended and the Council reiterated Morgana's offer to Clan Juwes to assist in dealing with Clan Lestat. As it turned out, no help was required and Clan Juwes' status within the Drăculești enabled them to displace one of the more conservative hidebound Clans on their Carpe Noctum Confederation which arbitrates disputes between Clans. In essence it meant the Council, via Morgana, had a voice there, same as the Clans could now address the Council directly, via Morgana.

On Loegria the scientists we had engaged to produce a mind limiter were making some progress, but we were informed that it was slow going and whilst they had a theory as to how to do it, at the moment designing a machine to do so was proving costly and time consuming. I was cheered to hear that Ketty was re-elected as Archon and her new Monitoring And General Evaluation Service had proven very effective in rooting out a couple of nests of spies as well as removing several Loegrians with links to criminal enterprises.

As it was, Róisín, Morgana, Arch, Jemima, Simon and I had travelled through Kurukshetra en-route to Loegria to attend, as we'd promised, Dorry and Olmer's wedding.

"Greetings, Mages," came the voice of Elena who appeared to be Rowenna's doorkeeper.

"Greetings to you, Journeywoman Elena," I replied and introduced her formally to the others save for Róisín who got a hug rather than a formal bow.

We were joined by Rowenna, Benjamin and Brianna, as well as apprentice Mage Callum, who came through as soon as we were announced.

"It's so good to see you two again," Rowenna said to Róisín and I the moment the formalities were out of the way and she swept us up into a hug.

"It's good to be back Ma ... Rowenna," I replied.

"Ooh, he can learn," said Rowenna with a big grin.

"Eventually," teased Róisín.

I was then hugged by Brianna, who was clearly delighted to see me.

"It's so good to see you, John, and you, Róisín," she said. "Your endeavours the last time gave the ladies here so much hope with their roles in Loegrian society."

"How is their training going?" I asked.

"Slowly, but we have more help now with Benjamin here, plus the Council graciously allowed Gregoriy to assist me along with his wife Tasha," Brianna replied.

"Jemima and myself will be staying for a few months to assist with training too," added Arch.

"Oh my goodness, that's marvellous!" gasped Brianna.

"I intend to rotate some of my most trusted subordinates through Loegria over the coming years until we have the situation here under control," said Morgana.

"Thank you, Mage Morgana," Brianna replied with a deeply respectful bow.

"Are you going to the wedding too?" I asked Brianna.

"Yes, Dorry is Ketty's liaison with the 'MAGES' and although not in charge as such ... some General is, she's the one with direct access to Ketty and as I am our liaison on this side we got to know each other very well and consider each other friends now," Brianna replied.

"I take it we have to dress as Loegrians," I mused.

"Oh yes," said Rowenna. "We have your costumes ready in your rooms and no, you don't get a choice or Dorry will have some severe words to say to you if you do not wear them,"

"That young lady is a veritable force of nature," chuckled Simon.

"I suspect she'd find a way to track us down even if we returned home," I said with a wry smile.

"I was just thinking that myself," chuckled Arch.

As it was, for men, Loegrian style was in the nature of loose fitting soft shirt; tunic and trousers in pastel shades tucked into knee length boots and didn't look too bad.

For the ladies though it involved tight upper body sleeveless tunics over some form of elasticated skin-tight blouses along with what appeared to be harem pants cinched at the ankle, though in no way transparent, in a variety of vivid primary colours, finished off with what appeared to be velvet bootees.

"It's actually more comfortable than it looks," Róisín admitted, once we were all assembled.

"Well, it does help that the ladies here keep themselves in peak physical condition too," Simon replied.

Finally we entered a series of cabs to take us to Troianova's cathedral of the Gods where Dorry and Olmer were to exchange oaths in what amounted to a state sanctioned wedding somewhat equivalent of a Royal wedding on our Earth.

"I never realised just how important Dorry was," I murmured to Rowenna.

"Not so much Dorry as the two families. Dorry's family are directly linked to Ketty's regime and ardent supporters of the new freedom. Dorry's role in the revolution was enhanced as part of the mythos of the revolution. Olmer's family were also supporters, but as part of what was the Demalos group, a differing faction who were later linked to a plot to bring back the Over-masters, the plot you foiled, John. Hence the family's need to tie themselves into Ketty's faction who now have overwhelming political support from the populace," Rowenna replied.

"I rather suspect that to Dorry and Olmer those factors are of a secondary importance, from what I know they genuinely love each other," I said.

"Secondary yes, but don't think for one second they aren't aware of the situation," she replied.

The day itself was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky. I looked up and glanced at Rowenna only to get a big grin from her as she confirmed my suspicions of tampering. We were met and checked over by some security people on our arrival and allowed to pass through, much to their puzzlement as their list did not give any details other than some odd names (by their reckoning, not ours).

"Friends of the bride," I murmured to the raised eyebrows I got when presenting my invite.

"Any concerns over security?" Morgana asked Brianna.

"A few threats from fanatics dedicated to returning Loegria back to Over-master control," Brianna replied. "Nothing significant and I had our ladies scan the entire Cathedral this morning and they are 'assisting' internal security with their checks."

"Hello, John, Róisín," came a familiar voice and we turned to get hugs off journeywoman Irena, Ketty's personal assistant.

"Hi Irena, how's the job?" I asked.

"Great, I'm hated and respected in the entire building as a roadblock on bothering Ketty as only those who actually need to see her now get to do so," she said with a grin. "I get calls for my sacking several times per week from minor political climbers and once the leader of her political opposition. He tried to barge his way through only to be apprehended by my good self and thrown to the floor with my heel at the base of his skull. Ketty came out told him that, as others, he had no actual right of access to her save under certain circumstances and unless I was made aware of the circumstances then I would block any attempt to force a way into her office. She then told him to make an appointment with the reason for it and then ignored him and his aides who were cowering in the corner and went back into her office."

"No more problems with traitors?" I asked.

"Not exactly, I have pointed out a couple of spies from opposition parties, but Ketty just feeds them disinformation or things she wants them to know," Irena said.

"How is Ketty? Last time I was here her stress levels were through the roof."

"That sadly hasn't changed, but she's managing it better now. If you have time to give her a boost I'm sure she'd appreciate it," Irena added.

"I will," I replied as we made our way to our places near the front, which appeared to raise quite a few eyebrows.

I found myself right behind Ketty and an unknown man who were sitting right behind Dorry's immediate family. For the moment I chose not to bother her or the man, whom a scan told me was her life partner and whom I'd never met or been told about, though I did fix his heart which was clogged with fatty congestion as well as repairing the wasted muscles therein. I only stopped going further when Morgana jabbed me in the ribs and gave me a mental warning to ask first, though it wasn't a severe one and to be honest she seemed not to mind.

Like marriages on our Earth, Dorry was led down the aisle by her father, the main difference being that Olmer was also led down at the same time by his mother. There was no music as such, just a dignified silence. Dorry herself looked absolutely radiant in garb that was similar in cut to that which the lady Mages were wearing, though of a simple lilac colour and of a style that I can only describe as old fashioned, without being able to put my finger on why I thought so.

Vows were exchanged in clear voices and the couple were bound together with a small silken rope before they kissed and a massed choir belted out a song which struck me as being somewhat similar to an old style polka as the couple split and walked down the side of the cathedral on the sides of their partner's families and received greetings from and welcomes into them. All in all for a supposed state wedding they hadn't hung around, it was all over in twenty minutes.

Outside though we were greeted by an ecstatic and exuberant Dorry who swept our whole group up in her arms.

"Oh, I'm so glad you could make it," she told us.

"We wouldn't have missed it for worlds, young Dorry," Simon replied for us all.

"John, Róisín, it's good to see you," greeted Olmer.

"It's good to see you too, Olmer. How did your dissertation go?" I asked.

"Top marks, thanks to the information you gave me, which I had to ascribe to my Dorry here," he answered with pride.

"Glad we could help, though it's an area we're not supposed to discuss at all," I replied.

"Yes, I saw why after I was published. The Over-masters literally turned over whole countries looking for Jahrna's family, though, we believe, without luck," Olmer said.

Olmer and Dorry went on to mix with the rest of the guests until it was time to go to the reception where people could let their hair down; though we were joined by Ketty who had two security people hovering nervously in the background.

"My friends," she greeted us with profound respect.

"Less of the formality, Ketty," said Morgana with a grin and hug to the utter shock of her partner and guards.

"Gods, it's so nice to be around you lot who treat me as a normal person. This is Niras, my partner," she added.

"Nice to meet you, Niras," I greeted him. "Ketty is our oldest friend in Loegria," I said shaking his hand.

"Good to meet you too, though she's never mentioned you," he added, clearly confused.

"She can't, security and all that," Roisin said, also shaking his hand.

"He's not a well man, Ketty," I said quietly to her as Niras was introduced to the rest of the group.